Thursday, July 3, 2014

Faux Apothecary Cabinet

I have been wanting an apothecary cabinet for.ev.er, but thrift and antique as I might, I have yet to come across one. I'm totally obsessed with the look, and started to wonder if I could make one.

Sure I could!

Chance is super handy, but drawers are something that we've never made & I'm not sure if I'm ready to help tackle them--- especially the amount we'd need to make a no-kidding apothecary cabinet. So faux it was! The idea for a faux cabinet from an Ana White post on her Apothecary Console design (Click *here* if you want to see it!) It's two separate doors made to look like 8 drawers. Pottery Barn has the same design! Truly genius and completely manageable. I had an old dresser that we've been using as a TV console and it desperately needed a makeover. I went to Lowes and searched everywhere for a very thin, 8" board to cut into even (or nearly even,) squares. All that I ended up finding were 6" boards, or 8" boards that were too thick for the project. As I was about to leave and head to the specialty lumber store an employee stopped by to ask if I needed help. I explained what it was that I was hoping to make and he had the brilliant idea to cut a sheet of thin wood into the pieces I needed… An idea that I like to believe I would have had on my own had I had enough coffee in my system…Ahem… Anyway… A sheet of wood it was, and the gentleman was willing to cut it for me (and Chance rejoices.)

Sorry for the sad, blurry pictures :(

The guy so kindly cut the board into three long strips, cut those strips in half, then cut those strips into thirds. I ended up with 18 squares.

I bought 18 knobs, and headed to the craft store.

In my mind the cabinet was going to be white. But while I looked for dark wax at the store, I ran across this great blue paint that I wanted to give a shot.

I tried to use spray adhesive to get the squares in place, but in the end a brad nailer is what I ended up using. I'm sure that a better glue would work for this project.

This was the first time I had ever decided to use dark wax and I was a nervous wreck. It turns out there's really nothing to be afraid of, but I am glad that the stuff was more forgiving than I thought it would be. I used clear wax first, then spread in a dark wax around the corners and sides of the little squares to add depth. I had tried my hand at the crackle top coat, but even with the help of a blow dryer it was still hit or miss. I managed to get a few crackles and I love how they look with the dark wax on top!

Measure to the middle of the square and drill pilot holes for the knobs. Here's where things got a little tricky for me. I'm sure you could find screws that were long enough, but the screws that came with the knobs wouldn't reach the knobs on the outside. They were a hair too short. Afraid I was going to have to go back to the store, I decided to take a large drill bit and drill to where the front of the old drawer sits. Then, I took a drill bit the size of the screw and drilled the rest of the way. The knobs sit below the surface, but you can't tell!

As nervous as I was about the dark wax, I'm really pleased with how my 'cabinet' turned out :)